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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

The 100m final at the olympics shows otherwise. Sure, it takes hard work and dedication to become a world class sprinter, but if you happen to have been born male and of African descent then you're at an advantage.

This is a salient point.

Thus far we have discussed four principal hypothoses for the apparent proponderance of gay master pianists:

1. Those that are gay feel more comfortable being in the arts and out in the arts and/or felt attracted to the piano.

2. Because they are flamboyant or because it is unusual for pianists to be homosexual we develop a false perceptional bias that there is a preponderance.

3. The psycho-social challenges of growing up gay make some take to piano practice as a refuge or to later avoid confrontation and troubles in many discriminatory professions and to avoid becoming a priest, hairdresser or flower arranger.

4. The unique, psycho-social adversity of growing up gay makes some precociously consciously aware and sensitive which translates into longer term advantage in playing the piano.

A fifth reason may be:

5. There are physical differences in the makeup of homosexual men ('s brains) which provide them with long term advantage in going far with the piano.

We know that there are differences between male and female brains:

Quote:

Men's brains tend to perform tasks predominantly with the left-side, which is the logical/rational side of the brain. Women, on the other hand, use both sides of their brains because a woman's brain has a larger corpus callosum, which means women can transfer data between the right and left hemispheres faster than men.

We also know that -- as an integrative art -- successful piano performance requires a unique integration of ratio and emotio and integration within the brain and between the brain and the body. Young males who start early piano practice tend to grow a larger corpus collosum, while females, who already have larger ones, tend to achieve less marked differentiation from piano study.http://www.musicianbrain.com/papers/Hyde_MusicTraining_BrainPlasticity_nyas_04852.pdf

We also know from research of the Dutch neuroscientist Dick Swaab that there are physical differences between the brains of homosexual men and heterosexual men, and these differences are formed already in the uterus.

Quote:

Current evidence indicates that sexual differentiation of the human brain occurs during fetal and neonatal development and programs our gender identity—our feeling of being male or female and our sexual orientation as hetero-, homo-, or bisexual. This sexual differentiation process is accompanied by many structural and functional brain differences among these groups... the Savic laboratory detected a sex-differentiated activation of the anterior hypothalamus in heterosexual men (HeM) and heterosexual women (HeW) and a sex-atypical, almost reversed, pattern of activation in homosexual men (HoM) and homosexual women (HoW). The hypothalamus (Fig. 1) is a small brain area located under the anterior commissure that is involved in many different functions

How many other differences there may be of which we are not aware is unknown. However, this one would not seem to be trivial given the fact that musical performance is a temporal art form where micro timing differences can make all the difference in the world:

Quote:

In 1990, we described the first brain difference related to sexual orientation in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)—the brain's “clock”—which in homosexual men is twice the size that it is in heterosexual men...

Stephen Hough is gay? Who would have thought? He doesn't act gay on stage. For that matter, Horowitz didn't act gay, and I sat about 15 feet away from him on stage for one of his concerts. Neither did Richter, but that was way back in the 60s and maybe I was too young or innocent to notice.

Perhaps if they put a sign on stage that said GAY PERFORMER, that would clarify these things. It might have helped when Richter, Gilels and Berman came over to the US if they had a sign that said CAUTION: COMMUNIST ON STAGE. Everyone would have known where these men stood politically. Or would we? They could have walked off stage and asked for political asylum, and some Soviet artists did. Sometimes, putting labels on artists doesn't help things.

Does anyone else feel this whole thread is getting silly? Do people honestly go to concerts by pianists and spend their time thinking about the sexual orientation of the performer? Even if a gay artist has suffered from a lifetime of repression, and is expressing that emotion in his playing, how are you, the listener, going to know this? All of us receive the emotional content of great music and notable performances in different ways, pertinent to our own lives, and only secondarily if at all do we think about the life of the performer (as in the case of someone like Geoffrey Helfgott). Probably the gayest pianist of them all, Liberace, understood this. As camped up as his costumes were, when it came to playing the piano, he made people forget about all that and just enjoy the music. I think it would be best all around if we just enjoyed the music of the many excellent pianists performing today, and not spend our time wondering what they are doing in their private lives.

It's just discussion...it does no harm and, as such, can only be a good thing..right? Besides...when I hear music that fills me with love I may very well just happen to love the performer; I'm interested in those I love and can find even the dullest fact satisfying...so...um...would it be best if I just didn't think about those I love?

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Sometimes, we all just need to be shown a little kindness <3

I think it would be best all around if we just enjoyed the music of the many excellent pianists performing today, and not spend our time wondering what they are doing in their private lives.

Indeed. Those pesky gays should go crawl back into their holes or step back into the darkness of their closet. Only if they have a trophy wife on their arm should they have the nerve to rub our noses in the details of their private lives.

Wonder why for centuries and still today that there is such a lively market in (auto)biographies from Josquin to Lang Lang if no one is really interested in the lives of great artists?

I think it would be best all around if we just enjoyed the music of the many excellent pianists performing today, and not spend our time wondering what they are doing in their private lives.

Indeed. Those pesky gays should go crawl back into their holes or step back into the darkness of their closet. Only if they have a trophy wife on their arm should they have the nerve to rub our noses in the details of their private lives.

Wonder why for centuries and still today that there is such a lively market in (auto)biographies from Josquin to Lang Lang if no one is really interested in the lives of great artists?

Stephen Hough is gay? Who would have thought? He doesn't act gay on stage.

What do you mean exactly?Are you sure?

Originally Posted By: Numerian

Perhaps if they put a sign on stage that said GAY PERFORMER, that would clarify these things. It might have helped when Richter, Gilels and Berman came over to the US if they had a sign that said CAUTION: COMMUNIST ON STAGE.

Interesting thought.

You could write entire books about the impact that composing and performing under the oppressive psycho-social contradictions that the communist regime had on Dimitri Shostakovich and what his real political persuasions were versus what was expedient. In fact, several books have been written on the subject. They are perhaps not so different from those of a closeted gay growing up under the oppressive contradictions of a straight society, that until very recently and only in a tiny fraction of the world, criminalized and demonized those who were bold enough to expose the truth about their human identity.

Correct; it is the prurient fixation with things that are of no concern.

Well...I'll agree it may be rude to pry, but I thought most of the pianists disclosed their sexuality at one point or another. Oh...and let's not bring dwarfism into this mess Of course, stating that it's prurient is entirely tautologous, but of no concern? I'm sure it was a great concern to those involved and, as those interested in music and its history, shouldn't that which concerns the titans of the discipline concern us too? I mean, um, do you indulge no curiosity? Do you hear of Scriabin's madness and just say "that's irrelevant with regard to the technical aspects of his compositions; do not tire me with details of his life, he is nothing but a vessel for my enjoyment, I don't care about him or anything he thinks now, please, tell me more about the spelling of that accidental..."... Sorry, but, um, I can't imagine you're not a tiny bit interested in the influences (and by extension, lifestyles) of pianists and composers. If you aren't then forgive me and your point is fair enough for you but quite a lot of the rest of us care about *how* music is made, down to the finest detail.Xxx

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Sometimes, we all just need to be shown a little kindness <3

Correct; it is the prurient fixation with things that are of no concern.

Is this thread one of your own "prurient fixations"? You made your thoughts known to us two days ago, but you seem unable to resist making them known again. I respect your opinion, but what is the point? There are thousands of threads that should be more to your liking, so why waste time repeatedly identifying the fixations of us "little people"?

I would point out that this thread is less than 40 hours old, and has already garnered 2500 views and 150 replies. That is an amazing amount of traffic, so obviously there is interest in the topic. (Yes, yes, I'm sure it's all "prurient".) But I have to say that the thread has remained relatively on-topic, serious and thoughtful, and has not devolved into the sort of lewd snicker-fest that some may have feared.

You say the topic is not important, it doesn't matter, it's none of our concern, and you're right. But what thread does matter, and is important? Look through the list. I see nothing. Most of the topics in this forum are born of curiosity, and nothing more. Most discussions are of the have-you-ever-noticed variety, exactly like the personal conversations that people engage in all the time.

When you're unhappy at the party you're at, simply find a different party. It's not that difficult.